


No Markers That Line the Outcast's Path

by FireEye



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-03
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:22:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29174844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FireEye/pseuds/FireEye
Summary: Nomad!V.  V's first twenty-four hours or so in Night City, and some of the adventures that were had.
Relationships: V/Jackie Welles
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	No Markers That Line the Outcast's Path

Music still coursed through her veins, giving sway to the way she moved and guiding the cadence of her steps.

Jackie closed the bedroom door behind them.

V dropped her bag near it.

They’d hit three bars on the way back to his apartment. And now they were drifting around one another, moving to a slower, more synchronous rhythm as she fell into his orbit. A slower cadence, for a different kind of dance; one he seemed perfectly of a mind to follow her on, small stumbles and all.

His hands drifted up her arms, and he rested his forehead lightly against hers. She held on to his jacket, one hand slipping under it to find more stable purchase on his chest.

Between the two of them, they might just have regained the sense of balance they’d left behind at the bar.

He grinned, a breathless chuckle behind it. This close, she could taste the alcohol on his breath.

“Gotta tell ya. I don’t think I have _ever_ seen dance moves like that.”

“Never?”

Jackie gave a small shake of his head, but didn’t pull away from her.

“Must be ‘cause they’re the kind of moves you’d see around campfires, not in clubs. Don’t know many nomads, I take it?”

“Not many,” he agreed.

V nuzzled his jaw. He tilted his face towards her, mouth brushing against the decorative cyberware that graced her cheek. She raised her chin, tracing the sensation. Jackie lifted his head, then leaned back into her, his breath warm against her ear; one hand slid down her arm, glancing off her elbow before his fingers found her hip.

With a sharp sigh, Jackie abruptly straightened up, blinking as he did. Trying to rub the alcohol haze out of his eyes, he caught sight of the bed, and wandered over to sit down.

Hanging back, V tried to work her inebriated brain into comprehending what the fuck had just happened, eventually coming up with _nothing._

“Um.” Jackie patted the mattress beneath him. “Yeah. Room for two.” He cleared his throat, and shrugged. “That is, if you don’t mind gettin’ cozy.”

V raised an eyebrow, but he wasn’t looking at her to see it. He slid out of his jacket, threw it on the floor, then started working on his boots.

By the time she’d managed to slip off her shoes, he’d dragged himself up onto the bed. He’d tried to leave room, and tried to shimmied even impossibly closer to the wall once she lowered herself down next to him. They still wound up with his chest pressed up against her back, and his arm draped over her side.

Not that she could have said she minded. Not really.

“Sweet dreams, V,” he murmured into her hair.

She didn’t think to answer.

She didn’t even feel _tired_.

How was she supposed to sleep?

The room was quiet. Jackie was warm on the bed beside her. The soft rhythm of his breathing was comforting, easing the ache of emptiness that had filled her heart ever since she’d struck out on her own.

It took him a while to fall asleep.

By the time he did...

V was still wide awake.

Stuck in a strange city.

In a stranger’s bed.

Her mind drifted to the events of several hours earlier, when he’d tried to fleece her the bribe for their smuggling job, and planned to hang her out to dry on the contract.

What, that prompted V to asked herself, was she even doing?

Wriggling out from under Jackie’s arm, she sat up. He didn’t stir. Glancing down, she reached out to touch the back of his hand.

She was all alone now.

She couldn’t afford to make stupid choices. Not when _one_ was all it would take to lay her out.

Bouncing forward to her feet, she found her shoes again. Once she had them on, she paced the length of the room.

Her gaze was drawn back to the bed, where Jackie was sleeping soundly.

Whether she was wrong about him, or completely on point – she figured the money he was bound to get from the iguana would more than make it up to him, either way.

Grabbing the bag that now contained her entire life along the way, she slipped out the door.

~*~

Dawn broke over the Night City skyline. Morning sunlight caught in the glass and steel and smog like dew in a spider’s web.

Nothing seemed to change, other than the lighting. The bustle of the crowd ebbed and flowed, seemingly at random, as V wandered through the densely inhabited streets. Storefronts and stalls fought to entice customers, and people moved with a frightening speed on their own personal tasks.

The sensory overload was overwhelming.

It was, V thought, an entirely new form of life, breathing on its own, veins of city streets packed with the blood cells that flowed through it. And, perhaps, just as oblivious.

Her pace slowed.

V came to a full stop in the middle of the sidewalk. Everyone around her kept on moving.

She didn’t know where she was going, or how to get there.

As she stood restlessly still in the middle of the crowd, a feeling of emptiness welled up within her.

She didn’t track how long she remained there, frozen in an unfamiliar world.

It might have been for all eternity.

Then she felt a tug on her belt. And snapped back to herself fast enough to snatch the hand of a girl, no older than ten.

V’s eyes narrowed.

The girl tried to pull away, and when that didn’t work, drew a knife, prompting V to catch her other wrist, twisting until the knife dropped from her fingers.

A few people glanced their way, but no one seemed to care; neither that the girl had been pickpocketing, nor that she had been caught doing so.

Shaking her head, V sighed. Keeping a hold of one of the girl’s hands, she deftly stooped to grab the knife with her other. Then, quite simply, she dragged the girl along with her until she found a quiet alley. The girl struggled along the way, dragged her feet, and eventually grew still – the blanched color in her face and grim expression suggesting what she thought of her odds.

“See this?” V asked, holding up what the girl had tried to steal. V could only imagine her cyberdeck was nothing to practically anyone else: it was ancient and cheap, and V was surprised she’d even managed to keep it working. “It’s worthless. You wouldn’t get anything for it, and it was _wired to me_ anyway.”

She clipped it back to her belt, and tucked the girl’s knife in a band of her bag.

“Anyway, that’s not how you klep shit from people,” V explained, holding up a tiny ceramic bird figurine she’d found in the would-be thief’s pocket. “This is.”

The girl’s eyes widened.

“How-...”

V held up a hand, cutting her off. “I’ll show you. But only if you promise you’ll get it right from now on, got it?”

The kid stared at her in absolute wonder. Then nodded briskly. V cracked her knuckles. “Alright.”

She went over the basics, and they practiced for hours, until the girl had gotten it down. Then V taught her a couple of more tricks to utilize, before sending her off on her way.

~*~

The sun was high.

V had found a small restaurant to sate her growing hunger – there were plenty of them around – but she didn’t have much else to go on for her continued survival. Money would be scarce soon enough, and spending the night on the street might not have been a bad prospect... except there were too many people here, and not enough trust to go around.

She’d figure it out, she promised herself, as she kept moving.

The sound of someone sobbing cut through her reflection, followed by an angry shout. V followed the sound to smaller alley, cutting through the one she was in.

A few people turned their heads to see what was going on as they passed it by, a few even stopped, but no one stepped in to help the woman sobbing on her knees, cradling the still form – unconscious, by the looks of it, not dead –of a child, surrounded by a tough looking assortment of gangoons.

Their color pattern was familiar. And the symbolism woven into it. Jackie had been wearing something like that.

Maybe she’d been right not to trust him, after all.

As far as battlefields went, the assessment wasn’t good, but that was no matter.

Reaching for her knife, V strolled into the thick of it.

All eyes turned to her. Even, she suspected, some at the mouth of the alley.

The woman kept on sobbing.

“This ain’t your fight,” one of men growled.

“Is now,” V replied with a shrug.

The first man with courage – if a seven on one fight could be called _courage_ – charged her. V braced the handle of her knife against her hip and shoved right back into him; his splashed the pavement at her feet as she ripped the knife through his gut.

There was a stunned silence, which V used to give the woman a shove towards the mouth of the alley. What was a mugging or a random act of violence when the gangoons had _her_ to deal with, now, anyway.

Her bag knocked another of them cold, then she took off running in the opposite direction, leading them away.

This was their turf. V didn’t know her way. But that meant fuck all when they were too incensed to think and she was level headed as always.

Turning a corner, she bolted up a fire escape. She stashed her bag there, and paused to catch her breath.

The five remaining gangoons kept on running past beneath her. V held her breath, counted to twenty, and slid back down the fire escape quietly to shadow their footsteps. She caught up to the first one and dropped him easily.

Then the alley split – left and forward – and so did the remaining four.

She followed the two that went left, choking one out and slamming the other’s head into a wall in quick succession, before backtracking to find the other two.

Another went down quietly, leaving only the last.

Who she tapped on the shoulder.

He turned, right into her fist.

Leaving V to shake the pain out of her knuckles as he hit the pavement.

~*~

Twice more she’d run into gangoons before the sun was low in the sky, and had a few new bruises and bloodied knuckles to show for it. Still, they were worse off than she was.

Lost in her own thoughts, she cut across a plaza. There weren’t as many people there, odd as it was. A display buzzed when she walked past it, and she paid it no mind.

“Hey! _Hey_ ,” a voice shouted, near enough she started. V lifted her head, spun around, and found a man in uniform staring her down. “This is a crime scene.”

She looked him up and down. Then down and around, to find a corpse nearby at her feet – a businessman, going by the suit, or what was left of him.

“Uh...” V shrugged. “Yeah, guess it is. So?”

“So, you can’t be here!”

“Why not?”

He stepped closer. V stepped back. Her system flagged an alert as he scanned her.

“You look like you been in trouble today; so tell me, what kinda trouble you been in?”

His partner had risen from inspecting the remains to joined him. He nudged the first cop.

“You seein’ what I see?” he asked quietly. “Check her record.”

“Hey, you - what kinda nomad runs around Night City without a criminal record?”

“...one... who... doesn’t have one?” V ventured tentatively.

The cops exchanged a glance.

“Check her out,” the second cop stated.

They moved in a practiced routine, flanking her. V’s eyes flicked down as one pulled his neural link free, and back again.

She remained perfectly still as he moved closer.

He reached for her arm.

V decked him.

She didn’t wait around to see him hit the ground, or the other cop draw his pistol. Swinging her bag flat against her back, she ran like hell.

~*~

The moon was out.

The city lit up.

A mosaic of lives, overlapping one another.

V’s heart ached.

Maybe there was nothing here for her at all.

The stars ought to have been out by now, but the light and the smog obscured even that.

Still, she roamed. She didn’t have a place or purpose in mind, and right now it would be enough just to make it to the next day.

Then she saw them. Three men, two women – clearly with somewhere to be. What caught her eye wasn’t the clip of their stride, but the way they were dressed – utilitarian, armed but open about it, and not a touch of street chic or corporate in sight.

Nomads.

A smile spread across her face, and she followed them right along, sticking to the shadows.

They led her to a derelict building, pitching camp in the upper levels while leaving one woman to guard the door. She slipped past their guard easily, finding herself a seat on a nearby table as they clustered on the floor and rolled out what looked like a tactical map.

She only listened quietly for a few moments while they set up, then cleared her throat.

“Hi,” she chirped.

All four were on their feet again.

Three guns were leveled at her, and a knife was pulled.

V raised her hands to show she was unarmed, and let her hands drop back into her lap. The guy with the knife was the leader of whatever was going on, she surmised. The woman was a scout. The other two were muscle.

“Who the _fuck_ are you?” one of the latter demanded.

“Nobody. I saw you walking on the street, and figured I’d say hello.” V shrugged. “Been looking for somewhere to stay the night, actually – thought you might know a place.”

They weren’t her people. She knew it. They knew it. _It wasn’t the same_. Still, she had more in common with them than anyone else in this place.

“You shouldn’t be he-...” one started to say.

“You’re fucking alone,” another accused with a scoff, and V flinched. “What does that tell us?”

“ _Chill_ ,” the guy she pegged for their leader told them, before regarding her quietly. 

“Bakkers?” he guessed.

V nodded once. “What’s left of ‘em anyway.”

He studied her for a moment longer, then his face split into a wide grin.

“Want a job?”

~*~

It was a simple job.

Crack security; slip in, move product out, vanish into the morning smog. An extra pair of hands made for faster work, and were all the more welcome.

She’d split with them to stow her bag, and met back up with them at the warehouse. She slipped inside with their scout, the two of them together making short work of the security systems and the guards to open the building up.

“What’re we acquiring, anyway?” V thought to ask, more as conversation than for curiosity as she stacked another case in the bed of the truck.

“Nothing much,” the man in charge of the plan told her.

“ _Worth a small fortune so everyone can eat for a month, random it back off to the highest bidder_ type not much?” The cases they were filching were unmarked, and that as often as not spelled trouble. “ _Or... this shit’s actually useful in the badlands, gotta get it from somewhere_ not much?

“The former. Got a buyer all lined up.”

V flashed him a smile before trudging back towards the warehouse.

They didn’t get a warning when a second wave of security flooded the building. It was gunfire and chaos, and, V realized far too late, a netrunner.

The others got away.

Or might have done – V _hoped_ , but she didn’t see them, as she got cornered by several over-armored and very professional looking mercenary-style security guards.

Under the glaring light, she held up her hands, showing she was unarmed.

Her system was scrambled.

No one was coming to save her.

Putting up a fight and bleeding out on concrete floor wouldn’t mean much, and she didn’t stand much of a chance if she wanted to walk out alive.

~*~

V was thrown to the floor before a table, across from a older man. One whose most distinguishing feature was how prominently he wore his faith upon his chest; a glorious badge of honor. She tried to force her way up, but the hands that held her down on her knees only allowed her enough leeway to lift her head... to view the dusty, wide open room and the rough looking accruement of occupants therein.

Some of them were wearing that telltale array of _red, black, gold_ she was already getting familiar with, for all that the lighting was too dim to make out the detail.

Her gaze was drawn back to the man in front of her.

The rest of them didn’t seem to matter, and she had the feeling he would have agreed.

“Don’t you know who I am?”

“No.”

By the subtle change in the expression on his face, he’d evidently expected her to. Expected her to respect him without ever having met him.

Score one for the rogue nomad.

“I am the man you tried to steal from.”

He paused, as though that, too, was supposed to mean something to her.

“Do you have nothing to say for yourself?”

She glared at the man as he tried to stare her down. _Tried_ , because as the moments slipped by and she didn’t break, something flickered in the depths of his calm, composed gaze.

A subtle smirk pulled at the corner of her mouth.

She _won_.

They both knew it.

The man flicked the ash from his cigar over the tray on the table. And looked up, above her head. To the man holding her down.

“I want... everything you can dig out of her head.” Bodies shifted around her. She heard the telltale _click_ of an interface cable, and grit her teeth. “Why she’s here. What she’s after. Who she works for. What they’re paying her. Where she lives. Who her people are. When you are finished-....”

She wrenched her arm loose, and hoping to make a grab for her knife. The man in charge of it all took a pull off his cigar as another goon stepped in to force her back down.

“As I was saying. When you are finished-...”

“ _Que pasa_ , Padre? Long time, _no_? Lookin’ for someone, word on the street is that she might’ve crossed your path.”

It took V what felt an astonishingly a long moment to realize she knew that voice.

Dragging her legs beneath her, V made a lunge to her feet. The grip on her tightened, and she was again shoved to her knees. Twisting to try to get a look over her shoulder, she found that the struggle had brought Jackie’s attention right to them.

When he saw _her_ , the easy smile on his face tightened.

“ _Ay_ , V, there you are.” He moved straight for her, but his gaze wandered, taking in every man standing, and he glanced back at the door. “Been looking everywhere for you, you know that? Had me worried sick you might’ve gotten into some kinda trouble...”

Once he reached her side, Jackie locked eyes with the man holding her.

“¿ _Como está tu hermana_?” he asked. “Tell her to call me sometime. We got catchin’ up to do.”

Reaching down, he took V’s arm gently in one hand, and with his other casually reached for that of one of the men that held her. The fingers in her shoulder pinched tighter, then let go, along with a second hand.

Jackie tugged V to her feet. 

The second goon was still holding on to her. Jackie glared at him over her head.

“ _Mine_ , or don’t you think I made that clear ‘nough?”

The goon let go.

Jackie pulled her to his side, and his arm settled over her shoulders. There was a ripple through the crowd as the men and women shuffled to give them space...

...as well as to close ranks around them.

“Jackie Welles.”

“The one and only. How’s biz, Padre?”

“You know this woman, do you?”

V felt Jackie fidget beside her.

“Damn right I do. She’s my new partner.”

That seemed to take the man by surprise. His gaze flicked to her, his expression darkening, before returning to Jackie.

“ _Really_ , now?”

“Really! Met her on a border crossing gig. Hey, and I needed to talk to you about that, actually-...”

“She has been causing quite the commotion, if you haven’t already heard.”

Jackie’s arm tightened around her shoulders. She slid her hand under his jacket, pressing her hand to his back.

“Yeah, well – she’s new in town. She don’t know the rules. I promised I’d show her the ropes.” His voice dipped low, and he forced a sharp grin. “Ma told me to tell you _hi_ , by the way.”

The man sighed deeply.

Then he flicked his fingers.

Beside her, V felt the tension in Jackie’s body ease, if only by the scarcest measure. He rubbed her shoulder, and steered her for the door with a brusque, “ _C’mon_.”

The crowd parted for them. They reached the door before the man’s voice followed them.

“Jackie...”

Breathing out a sigh, Jackie turned back. Which prompted V to make half the turn with him; it was easier than fighting his grip. Curious anyway, she glanced over her shoulder.

“¿ _Sí_ _?_ ”

“Your little churchmouse is skilled. See that those skills are put to their best use, eh?”

There was a small thread of respect in the old man’s voice, as though their play had impressed him. V flipped him off anyway. Her smirk vanished when Jackie grabbed her hand, forcing it back down again. She glanced up at him to find his composure cracking.

“Ah. Will do, Padre.”

“And say _hello_ to your mother for me.”

Jackie nodded.

“Sure thing.”

His grip on her tightened as he hustled her out the door before another word could get in edgewise. Gangoons, mercs, and other hangers about watched them cut through the small parking lot outside, where Jackie dropped his arm from her shoulder to snatch her wrist. He upped the pace until he was straight up dragging her through a network of alleys he markedly knew well, swearing under his breath half the distance.

~*~

They hit a small dead end, around the corner from a main street. It was there that he finally let go of her, before rounding on her.

“ _What_ the _fuck_ were you thinkin’, eh?” he demanded. “Do you have any idea what you would’ve been in for if I hadn’t found you?”

“I have a pretty good idea.”

The edge was wearing off. _Hers_ was, anyway. Jackie paced past her, and back again.

“Yeah, really? You think so?” he asked, jabbing her shoulder with a finger. “And why the fuck did you run off on me like that, didn’t I tell you I was gonna help you?”

V stood her ground.

“You also tried to rip me off one way,” she explained amicably, “then confessed to having planned to rip me off another.”

“I...” Jackie sputtered. “Yeah, but...” V blinked at him. “ _I came clean_ , didn’t I?”

V shrugged. She combed her fingers through her hair, straightening it a touch. 

“I’m saying I didn’t know what to believe. I’m alone out here, you get that? I needed someone... _something_ I could trust.”

“And you decided you can’t trust me, nothing I can do about it, just like that? _Tch!_ ”

V watched him pace, grumbling to himself – something about _fucking nomads thinking they were the authority on trust_ , if her translation software got it right – as he did. A faint smile touched her lips, and she shook her head.

“Hey Jack.”

“ _What_?”

“You saved my life.”

It took him a moment to follow.

“I did...?” But once it hit him, the aggression bled out of his posture. He drew himself up, straightening his jacket. “Ah. Yeah. Guess I did.”

Her smile deepened, then evaporated with a sigh. V flicked her fingers towards him. “But you know, I get it if the whole _partners_ thing is off the table. I understand if you just want to split right here.”

Jackie’s head snapped towards her.

“What? No. _No_. Even if I did, which I don’t – don’t even _think_ that – it just... it wouldn’t be right cutting you loose.”

“I... wasn’t wanting to force you into anything, is all. Right or wrong, I’d survive.”

“ _I’d survive_ , says the gonk just pissed off the badges; two – count ‘em – _two_ gangs, and one of ‘em twice; and crashed some blacklist corpo merchandise deal overseen by one of the city’s top fixers – and that’s just what I fucking know about what you got up to – _all in one fucking day_.”

Jackie laughed, as though the sheer absurdity of it had sunk in.

“I don’t care how much of a badass you _think_ you are, V. _No one_ survives this city alone.”

He might’ve been right about that. 

But from what she’d seen...

“Feels like everyone here is alone.” Crossing her arms, V scuffed one shoe on the pavement, then wandered the distance to the nearest brick wall, and leaned back against it. Jackie crossed his arms likewise, head cocked as he watched her.

“I mean, this place is interesting in a way... there’s so much... _everything_. So much to do and to see, and everything is so... it’s hard to keep track of it all...” V sighed. Then she scoffed; a mirthless chuckle, raising her eyes skyward. To a world high above their heads. “But down here in the gutter, you can’t even see the stars.”

“Dunno about that,” Jackie opined quietly. “Least one seems pretty bright from where I’m standing.”

V rolled her head towards him, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged, and shot her a thin smile. The corner of her mouth twitched in response, but her _almost_ smile faded just as quickly.

“My mother was from the city, you believe that? I always wondered, and... when everything else in my life broke down, something in me thought... maybe if I came to one, I’d find some connection to her.” V swallowed. “I’ve never seen so many people in one place and... I’ve never felt so alone.”

“Don’t have to be that way, _chica_.”

“Oh, yeah...?”

“Trust me. _Guy who just saved your life_ , here, remember? I know things.”

This time, V did smile back.

Almost despite herself.

She pressed her tongue to the corner of her lip.

“Think you might be able to help me out with another little cultural setback I seem to be having?”

“Mmhm.” Jackie intoned. “Yeah, shoot.”

V’s smile widened.

“Not that complicated. All I wanna know is, what’s a girl gotta do to get laid around here?”

It seemed to take a few seconds for the question to fully sink in. Jackie cast a quick glance around the empty alley, shrugged, then moved in closer, giving her a discerning once over as he did. Studying his face, she raised her chin as he pressed his fingers up under her jaw. His thumb brushed lightly along the scar that cut across her cheek.

“That right there might cost you a few options _,_ ” Jackie told her. “But...” he shrugged a shoulder, “I might know a guy.”

Reaching to trace her fingers along the back of his hand where it lingered, V regarded him for a long moment.

“No strings attached, no commitments, _no_ respected no questions asked. Sound like a fair deal to you?”

He thought about it.

Or, at the very least, made an entire production out of pretending to.

A slight movement of her head, and his thumb brushed against her lips. Abruptly, he twisted his hand, breaking her loose grip, and leaned into the wall. He dipped down his face down to her level, and V’s eyes fluttered shut.

The touch of his mouth on hers was gentle at first. Tentative. As though he was feeling her out. V had to wonder, given everything else that had passed between them until now, if he thought she might’ve simply been fucking with him.

He certainly hadn’t read to her the _unconfident_ type.

Her eyes cracked open again as he broke away. Again he touched her cheek, gently, as he studied her eyes. With a sigh, Jackie glanced over his shoulder.

“ _Ay_ , fuck it.”

The next kiss was crushing. Her arms found their way around his neck, and his fingers dug into her waist where he pressed her into the wall. In a fluid, practiced motion, Jackie reached down further to catch his hands beneath her thighs and heft her up to his level. Locking her legs over his hips, V took full advantage of her new height to blaze a trail of teasing kisses along his neck and jaw.

With a shift of his balance, Jackie pushed her even more firmly into the wall; V hissed a soft, “ _Fuck_.”

“ _Mmhm_ ,” he groaned against her neck in agreement, then pulled back just far enough to capture her mouth again.

~*~

“You’re sure you’re alright with... this?”

“ _Chica_ , I am more than alright with it.”

V swatted his arm as they reached the landing. “I was talking the whole _you’re stuck with me now_ thing.”

“Huh? Oh.” Jackie chuckled. “I think you got it all wrong. _You_ are stuck with _me._ ” He glanced down at her as he reached for the panel for the door. “And, uh... so we’re clear on somethin’? I am _not_ letting you out of my sight until I know you’re not gonna piss off the whole _other_ half of Heywood. Just not happening.”

“That... seems fair, considering,” V remarked wryly under her breath, following him through.

This time through, there was a woman sitting comfortable in his family room.

“Hey, Ma!”

V paused a few steps past the door, which closed behind her, and found reason to fuss with the strap of her bag where it cut over her shoulder.

“This is V; we missed you last night when we rolled in...”

Jackie launched into the story of how they’d met, and how he’d promised she could stay with them, and why there was an iguana hanging out in the kitchen as he introduced her to his mother. V hung back, a little uncertain, while the older woman scrutinized this strange girl that had been brought into her home with piercing eyes and a curious smile.

V could see shades of Jackie’s smile there. When she snuck a glance Jackie’s way, she found him smiling at her. Openly, encouraging.

She smiled back, if faintly.

And, for the first time since leaving camp, V felt it safe to let her guard down.

**Author's Note:**

> Pretty much the first thing I knew about this girl was that she struck out and caused trouble two minutes in. Please allow me to share some of it.
> 
> Also: My Spanish has never been great. I can follow along sometimes without subtitles, but my actually writing it out might just be terrible and so if I've gotten anything wrong I apologize.


End file.
